He fell for balloons at his first festival. That where he met the balloon pilot Jim Griswald, who would become his good friend.

"I said, 'How much does it take to get into balloons?' And he said '50 bucks. Come for a ride and we'll go from there,'" said Gottschall, who eventually became a balloon pilot.

Back then, the sport wasn't just for rich people. Gotschall remembers seeing families arrive at events towing a homemade trailer.

"My first balloon was $6,500 and now is a balloon is $30,000 to $50,000," he said. And that's not counting artwork. Special shaped balloons cost about $100,00 to $150,000, he said.

The number of local ballooners who take part in the festival has plummeted over the years. The number of local balloonists peaked at 23 or so in the 1980s, Gottschall said. This year, only three Onondaga County people will have balloons in the festival, including Bob Grandinetti of Fayetteville.